Sophie to make debut in Zagreb

Surbiton teenager Sophie Newnham is set to make her senior debut in Zagreb with the Great Britain boccia squad this week.

The 16-year-old will compete at the World Boccia Challenger event in the Croatian capital which starts on Sunday.

While it may be the 16-year-old’s official debut, she has already excelled, competing at the unsanctioned test event in Paris earlier this year where she won gold in the BC4 Pairs with Louis Saunders. And last year, she secured gold at the World Youth Championships with Tyler McLelland.

In Zagreb, she will play in the individuals and then is due to team up with European silver medallist Stephen McGuire from Lanarkshire:

“It’s my first World Boccia sanctioned event so it’s an exciting prospect to hopefully kickstart my world ranking. I had a taste of international competition at the World Youths last year but it feels really good to represent GB at a senior level.”

Newnham was first introduced to boccia at Treloar’s School in Alton.

Louis Saunders is also competing in Croatia and will hope to build on the success at the test event where he not only won gold with Newnham but also in the individuals.

The Great Britain BC1/2 Team – currently ranked no 3 in the world – will be wanting to hone its skills ahead of the Paralympics in August. Ahead of announcing selected athletes, Boccia UK is fielding David Smith OBE, Claire Taggart and Kayleigh Haggo.

Haggo explained:

“It’s great to get started with our season. Zagreb marks the start of the 2024 boccia calendar and it’s a really important one as we warm up for Paris. We’re in a great position with the Team as we are already qualified for Paralympics but, as athletes, we are yet to know who is to be selected so it’s all about honing our skills and seeing how we work together.”

County Antrim’s Robyn McBride will also be competing in the individuals of the BC3 category with Dad, Davey, on court as ramp assistant.

Greg Baker, Boccia UK's Performance Director, said:

"We've really focussed on increasing strength and depth in the squad over the last 12 months. It means that we are in the position where we can try out different Team and Pair combinations which is really important.

“For most of our athletes, this is their first international competition of the year. We want to build on the BC3 Pair’s success last week in Coimbra where they qualified a slot for the Paralympics. And Zagreb certainly starts an exciting build up towards Paris - it will be a good first test to see where athletes are at.”